Monday, 13 May 2013

You may be asking yourself: Why is he doing this?

Another post from me, but this time it is responding to comments both real and imagined.

You see, one thing that I need to know from you all, is would you play any of these games?

Be it MaliQuest or the independent version, are you genuinely interested in playing them?

Do you think these games have legs and if so how far can those legs carry it?

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You see, I'm currently filled with doubt and anxiety about breaking away from Wyrd and trying this completely by myself without the Malifaux framework to bounce off, and there are lots of reasons behind this.

Firstly, I know people love the game Malifaux, and so out of those interested, who would really still be interested in playing "generic Steampunk horror game?"

Secondly, Malifaux has a much broader audience than I could possibly even dream of reaching myself. By calling it a Malifaux supplement, I am certain to get a higher interest than without.

Finally, there's me.

As many will tell you, I don't have the highest opinion in my own 'talent'. So when I think about moving away from a Malifaux Mod, it's just me, my game and my not-all-that-original game mechanics left blowing in the wind, and in all honesty, be it insecurity, lacking in confidence or just pure honesty, I don't know who would be interested in that or why, when instead they can dig out a copy of Warhammer Quest or Descent and play a 'real' game with a budget behind it that I couldn't even dream of.

But at the same time there is the counter to this.

Where I currently stand, I don't feel supported by Wyrd, I feel suffocated. This is not because of them, they haven't put any restrictions on me, quite the opposite, they've said that I'm free to run with this.

No, the reason for suffocation is that I know I can't ever take any money from this, at all. And once the game is 'finished' if I want to see anything professionally made, like the loot deck or book(s) then each and every copy will need to come out of my pocket, and I don't even know if legally I'll be allowed to sell these for cost price.

And even after that, copyright law will still if I'm right actually stop me from using said publishers because they will be making a profit from Intellectual Property that they have not been given permission to use.

So that leaves things as they kind of are now, if people want to play this game, then they need to download and cut out the cards before playing.

Seriously, who's going to do that? Sure I have, but it's my game.

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So this is where I currently stand.

Honestly I don't know where to go or what to do. Doubt is flowing in on all sides, and it does every time I think about going independent, and it did the very first time someone suggested it, but being stuck in the middle of it, I have no way of seeing if it is reasonable or irrational doubt.

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This is why I'm doing what I'm doing. I'm spit balling ideas, seeing what if anything sticks and rolling with that.

Maybe it'll all prove to be a waste of time and energy - not to mention money, but if I actually let my feet stop running, I'm afraid I'll abandon the whole thing prematurely.